A transport assembly may comprise a gas generator having an outer housing, in particular for a vehicle occupant restraint system, the outer housing having at least one outflow opening arranged such that a thrust force is exerted onto the outer housing during the outflow of generated gas, and a removable transport cover which is detachably fastened to the outer housing and extends around the outflow opening, further outflow openings being arranged in the transport cover such that the transport assembly as a whole remains neutral with respect to thrust on activation of the gas generator.
Gas generators are known for the activation of vehicle occupant protection devices, which are not constructed so as to be neutral with respect to thrust. The gas generator has, for example, at one end an axial outflow opening, and does not have one at the other end, however. Other embodiments of gas generators which are not neutral with respect to thrust have outflow openings provided only in particular partial regions on the circumference, and not outflow openings which are uniformly distributed across the circumference. On transporting of these gas generators, i.e. before their installation, these gas generators which are not neutral with respect to thrust, are to be provided with a type of securing means which ensures neutrality with respect to thrust. For this reason, a transport cover is fastened to the outer housing, which receives the gas between the outer housing and itself in a kind of distributor chamber and emits the gas uniformly to the exterior via its own outflow openings, so that the closed assembly unit as a whole is neutral with respect to thrust. It was intended to screw such transport covers securely to the outer housing and to unscrew the transport cover again before the installation of the gas generator.
German Patent Application DE 100 20 796 shows an end piece of a gas lance attached to the outer housing of a gas generator which is, per se, neutral in thrust. Such end piece, however, is a part joining the gas generator and the gas lance and is not a transport cover for the outflow side of the gas generator. Further, when attached to the gas generator, the unit gas generator and gas lance is not neutral with respect to thrust.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,345 shows a plastic sealing sleeve permanently attached to a container filled with liquid. This document does not refer to gas generators. The sleeve makes the container tamperproof. If used with a gas generator, the sleeve would immediately be destroyed by the gas pressure and, thus, is not able to provide for a neutrality of thrust.